April Garden

Autumn's mellow colours are beginning to creep into the garden, and the Virginia creeper is an absolute joy to behold.

Berries and seed-pods abound, and there is beauty even in dead flower heads.

Several summer survivors - a lone gardenia, and lots of frangipani buds - bravely bloom on and on when all around the summer-flowering shrubs are going to sleep.

And the spring-flowering rhododendron is as impatient to get blooming as it was last year! It provides a welcome splash of colour outside my back door. (Please, nobody tell it that spring's at least 5 months away).